Pictures and comments from my many bass and crappie fishing trips to Lake Fork, Texas. Lake Fork is one of the premier bass fishing lakes in the USA. Guides Dale Stokes: 903-850-5319 and Rhandy Simmons: 903-841-1844. Lodging Hook Line and Sinker: 817-821-9003.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

First trip of 2012

Tuesday, February 21 and Wednesday, February 22

A spell of VERY nice weather at the end of February called for an early trip to Lake Fork with Dale Stokes. I know fishing is always slow this time of year with water temperatures in the low 50's. Usually, if you get 5 or 10 bites a day you are about average. However daytime temperatures in the 70s and 80s with low winds made it just irresistible. Plus you have a chance of catching fish at their heaviest, before the spawn.

I drove out Monday night and drove through some very heavy rain. The drought is not yet broken but things are definitely improving. The lake is up about 2 feet since my last visit and is now down about 5.5 feet from normal pool.

Tuesday started out about as expected. I think we had 6 or 7 bites all day and boated 5 fish, all little ones. We caught two on stick baits, two on rattle traps, and one on a jig. It started out a bit cool but warmed up to a beautiful day, even if the fish never turned on!

Tuesday we started a bit earlier and decided to concentrate on jig fishing, hoping to get something of size. About an hour in, I got a slight little tap on my jig, set the hook, and had a nice fight with a fish that weighed 8 pounds and 9 ounces. Now THAT is why I like to fish in February when lesser fishermen don't want to bother with 5 bite days.

Check out the gut on that fish while Dale is weighing it. It was not a very long fish, but it looked like it had swallowed a softball! If that is any sign, the spring spawn may just come a bit early this year.

I had 3 more bites, all day long, and boated another fish that weighed around 5 lbs. Not much on quantity, but I liked the quality!

I had planned to fish another half day on Thursday but winds kicked up to 20-30 mph and we decided to wait for another day. I am sure looking forward to spring fishing on Lake Fork!